Michelle Rodriguez, Ana Lucia Cortez herself, will be returning to LOST for a fifth season episode. Ausiello speculates that it’ll be the season’s second, a supposedly Hurley-centric affair, which also features Cheech Marin.

We never understood the hatred that Ms. Rodriguez and her character received from the nation of LOST fans. She was never as bad as, say, Nikki and Paolo-two characters so ill conceived and misguided that we stood up and cheered with delight when they were literally buried alive. The problem with Ana Lucia was different. She wasn’t an affront to all things decent, she just never found a foothold to call her own and was thusly unfocused-a missed chance at something more.

Ana Lucia was tough and sorta feminine, like Kate; a cold-blooded killer, fueled by revenge, like Sawyer; and had a streak of self-righteousness, and a love for self-pity, like Jack. As such, she never really moved beyond her first appearance on the series, a brilliant little scene with Jack placed in the season one finale as a jump-off for her second season arc. Sipping tequila and tonic, it was the best work Ms. Rodriguez has ever done, making Ana Lucia at once, playful, mysterious and flirtatious. We remember watching that scene and being excited that Jack finally had an equal to play off, while Ms. Rodriguez finally had the chance to play someone likable.

Unfortunately, it never worked out that way for either the character or the actress.

We’d like to think that this is a chance at redemption for Ana Lucia and Ms. Rodriguez, but four years of watching LOST has us knowing better. This series uses its "special guest stars" as MacGuffin’s, nothing more than false leads and dead ends meant to keep us hopping around and taking our eyes off the more important questions of logic. And four-toed statues.

In all likelihood, Ms. Rodriguez’s Ana Lucia will show up, rattle her chains like the Ghost of Island’s Past and be on her way, trailed by a string of negative comments from the vitriolic talkbackers.

It’ll be par for the course; just be another wasted opportunity for the doomed Ana Lucia.